From refugee camp to university campus, one woman's story on being given the 'opportunity to dream'

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What does home mean to someone who was forcibly displaced from their birth country?

To University of Minnesota theatre student Mary Maker, home is not something physical like a house or a plot of land. Home is to be loved and to be given a voice.

"It comes through friends, through people that value me as a person, through opportunities that are given to me through platforms like this one," she told The Current's Matt Galloway.

Maker is one of 82.4 million people today who are or were forcibly displaced from their homes. She was forced to flee modern-day South Sudan with her mother and two-year-old sister during the Second Sudanese Civil War.

Maker was just a toddler at the time. She says some of her earliest memories are of hiding, moving from one place to another, and watching bombs being dropped from "crazy planes."

"As a child, I [didn't] know what was the political dispute that was happening in the country, but I just knew [it] wasn't safe to stay in my place," she said. 

Her family's move initially took them to Itang, Ethiopia. But Maker says her mother didn't feel stable in the country.

When somebody just tries to shine a light on you and come and invest in you, it's literally everything-Mary Maker

Weighing their options, the family decided to move to Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where a few of her mother's relatives had escaped to.

"When we made it to Kenya, there was a sense of peace — the thought of moving again was no longer there," she said. "I could see my mother settled and feeling safe."

An opportunity to dream

On top of a sense of security, Kakuma refugee camp offered the young Maker another opportunity she hadn't experienced yet: education. 

Maker was initially scared to go to school — she says she had seen parents abandon their kids during the war, and thought her mother was doing the same thing. But after a few lessons, songs and playtimes, she was more than on board with the idea.

"I just felt like I was being given an opportunity to dream," she said.

When someone actually recognizes that and gives you an opportunity despite you being a refugee, it just opens up a lot of opportunities for you to give back to the community

The fact that she got to share that opportunity with dozens of other kids from various other countries contributed to her learning experience. 

"I really felt happy because I saw other kids that were coming from all different backgrounds … and we all don't speak the same language, but we could sing the same songs or just [be] taught English and Swahili at the same time," she said. 

A few years later, Maker's father took her to Nakuru, Kenya, to enroll in a boarding school. 

Though the school was more rigorous than the nursery school she had previously attended, Maker enjoyed taking advantage of the abundance of resources available to her.

The school also allowed Maker to live her life the way she wanted. 

"I was allowed to be a feminist, which is a taboo in my community," she said. "You can imagine I'm coming from this community where my mom ... had been taught not to question anything, and now I'm in school and I'm being taught to question everything. Like, I really love that."

Being humanized

Maker's journey to higher education wasn't smooth sailing. Following her mother's death in 2009, Maker dropped out of elementary school to take care of her younger siblings in the refugee camp. 

She returned to school shortly after, but she says her father's death in 2012 caused her grades to collapse. She finished high school in 2015 with a C grade on her final exams. 

"Finishing high school was as a result of actually begging my way to school and having to wait," she said. "I come from a big family of 17, and at this point in life, I have to beg anyone that I see to actually sponsor my education."

But Maker wasn't ready to quit. Fuelled by the fear of spending her life in the refugee camp, Maker studied hard enough to be accepted into the Mastercard Foundation, a non-governmental organization that helps people access education. This ultimately led to a scholarship to study at the University of Minnesota. 

Though Minnesota's freezing temperatures weren't something she was accustomed to, Maker was just excited to be given the opportunity to "defy the ordinary."

"When somebody just tries to shine a light on you and come and invest in you, it's literally everything," she said. "You feel like you have been dignified again, like someone has seen the humanity in you."

Though she's taken on the role of a university student, Maker hasn't forgotten about the children at Kakuma refugee camp. She's currently teaching young refugees remotely every Monday. 

She does this to make sure those kids feel seen, even in their circumstances.

"Most of the time people don't see [the humanity in you], and when someone actually recognizes that and gives you an opportunity despite you being a refugee, it just opens up a lot of opportunities for you to give back to the community," she said.

Written by Mouhamad Rachini. Produced by Joana Draghici.